SunFounder PiCar-V for Raspberry Pi 3/2/B+

Details

Technical Details

Features

STEM LEARNING KIT - Perfect choice for beginners to learn Raspberry Pi (not included), robotics, electronics and program. The PiCar-V is a funny way for children and parents working together to build and use.

UPGRADE VERSION - Improved technology based on user feedback. Support solid plate and the white Servo Motor can well protected by Torsion protection,Power failure protection after over load.

REMOTE CONTROL - Remote control with the UI on PC or on a web browser (mobiles, tablets…)

EASILY CODING - You can learn how to code faster and easier than ever with a visual programming language software or Python code.

Introduction

The PiCar-V is an open source robot learning kit based on Raspberry Pi. Equipped with a wide-angle USB webcam, it is powerful together with three whole new circuit boards and less but simpler wiring.

Some constructure plates in a well-designed structure, solid, durable and shatterproof. Complete code suitable for almost all platforms to control the car. Python code is provided for the car, and you can also program and debug it with Dragit, a Snap-based graphical interface, by just simple dragging and dropping the code blocks for complex functions

There are many ways to control the robot remotely: with the app on PC (works on any OS), you can control the car and the cam's direction on the UI and view the image it takes in real time; or, with the related code, realize the same functions on a web browser, means it can works with any mobile phones, tablets, etc.

"Man, what a blast! Within a few hours I had it up and running, following objects autonomously! This thing has personality.
Don't use brute force on any parts!!! If one of the brackets for a servo is to tight, file it down.
Consult their youtube page / website, I believe there are updated instructions for the software install portion.
I really didn't think the fun I had from Sunfounders quadruped kit could be topped; but this one did!"

This robot car kit came well organized and packaged in a nice plastic case with two latched lock closures. It was great to put together with my 11 year old son who had no difficulty in following the graphical directions. The pieces were easy to identify through either the pictures in the instructions or for the small nuts and screws, they were clearly labeled in bags for each section in the directions. When we were done, we had successfully identified and used the correct pieces as all were accounted for. The components were well made, solidly built, giving the robot car some serious heft—it feels substantial when complete. It took my son about 1.5 hours to construct the robot. So far, we are impressed. The next step is to program the robot which we will do in our next weekend project.

"I purchased this as a gift for my 7 year old daughter. Since we homeschool, I'm already excited to find good STEM projects that will hold her interest and be educational as well. We're very excited to start on this and did a little bit at a time while she learns about electronics and then has the satisfaction of a really cool and interactive toy that she'll spend many hours playing with.

I love that it comes with absolutely everything needed to complete the project, very clear instructions. While it is more complex than a simple ""snap together"" item, it still has clear enough guides to follow along and complete a really fun electronic toy."

This kit is PERFECT for high-school-age and above budding robot enthusiasts, "serious" robotics experimenters and anybody who already has their own software - but just needs a hardware platform to run it on. ONE (happy) CAVEAT - Once it's set up, kids as young as 5 can easily drive it around using the remote-control smartphone app! (It's a lot of fun!!!)

The physical assembly of this kit is trivial. You can use just the supplied tools, but I found that having a small needle-nose pliers helped me when attaching the standoffs on the Pi + board stack.

The manual has a typo here and there. It repeatedly refers to the SD card as a "TF" card, and one of the color diagrams shows the cable colors in reverse. But don't worry, the connectors are "keyed", which prevents you from hooking them up backwards.

If you are new to programming you may have some trouble navigating the various README files, application notes, server settings and github repositories that this kit uses. You can find enough information to get the software for this car going, but (as of Aug. 2017) there appears to be no *single* source of all this information. I used two git repositories (one for Picar, and one for Picar-V) to get the client and server going, and found no less than three (3) Arduino apps ("Video Car Controller" buy SunFounder, "PiCar Controller" and "RaspberryPiCar" from others) - each of which had various usability issues. The server software makes assumptions about install directories and port number - so install it below your user's home directory ($HOME or ~, in Linux), and don't change port numbers until after you get it all working!

The web-based app currently only works on systems with a touch-screen interface. This means it should work on tablets and smartphones, but it will not work on your home computer with a mouse without changes. (The web server only hooks the "touchstart" javaScript event, and not the "mousedown" event.) This would be easy to change, but it's not for the "uninitiated". ;)

I had some issues with the remote control web client's video feed not working over a VPN, but have not had any problems over the local LAN. I worked around this by launching a second browser window, and pointing it directly to the video feed URL. (The issue might have nothing to do with the VPN, and everything to do with the video feed being handled as a background "image", using CSS. More experimentation needed on this...)

I was able to drive the car around using the remote-control web interface (including live video feed) for over one solid hour. When I drove only on hardwood floors and used the slowest motor speed setting I could achieve slightly over 2 hours of drive time.

This kit is capable of driving over carpet, although higher pile/rougher terrain will certainly require higher speed/torque setting - with reduced drive time. Don't expect this kit to climb rocks or drive in loose sand. It was designed for indoor use, and has exposed wires and circuit boards.

Edit: Substitute longer M2.5 spacers (x4) between the car and the Raspberry Pi to raise the Pi high enough to allow you to use the HDMI port without disassembling the car.

High quality kit, great for education and funBy Merlin 2017-09-27 17:43:03

This is a really great kit for experimenting with the hardware and software aspects of your Rasperry Pi. Everything can be customized, extendend and modified. Assembling the kit takes only a few hours, the documentation is complete and clear. Everything works at once out of the box. Source code is available and the basic server functionality simply works, so it took us only a few days to develop a genuine Android app for controlling the car (called PiCar Control - freely available on the Play Store), which makes it even more fun! With this kit, my 12 year old son improved his skills in electronics, assembling, JAVA programming, Android development, PYTHON programming, and Linux all at the same time with lots of fun. In my opinion, it is the best kit for the Raspberry Pi on the market!